Laura Geitz

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Former Australian Netballer, Media Commentator & Keynote Speaker

Laura Geitz is a former Australian netball player and team captain, who is recognised as one of the country's greatest players and a female role model.

Respected as a high impact player, she was particularly heralded for her quick thinking and game changing intercepts. Laura retired from netball in 2018 having competed in two successful Netball World Cup competitions. During her playing career she, with her Australian representative team, won a Commonwealth Games gold and silver medal. Additionally, she led the Queensland Firebirds to domestic Championship titles in 2011, 2015 and 2016.

Laura enjoys working with her corporate partners, whose values reflect her own healthy lifestyle, and her love of netball, the great outdoors and family. Laura's depth of knowledge, popularity and charisma secured her commentator roles with Netball Australia and Channel 9.

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Laura chose to play netball as a young girl, growing up in the small town of Allora in Darling Downs. Inspired by her older sister's purple netball shoes, she was at the top of her game within less than a decade.

Overcoming the challenges facing most regional athletes, Laura quickly rose through the netball ranks to catch the eyes of talent scouts and was soon playing state and national under age netball.

Not long after beginning to play, Laura was recruited by national selectors to represent Queensland and Australia at Under 17 level. She quickly earned herself a scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and had her first captaincy role with the AIS Darters in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy.

Following a stint with the AIS, Laura made her debut with the Queensland Firebirds in 2008 in the first year of the ANZ Championship. She was named Vice Captain in 2011, stepping up to be captain following the season-ending injury of Lauren Nourse. She became the official captain of the Firebirds in 2012, and in 2015 captained the Firebirds to fantastic nail-biting victory over the Sydney Swifts to take out the ANZ Championship. She backed this up in 2016, stealing the Championship from the Swifts, yet again after extra time.

Laura Geitz was named Queensland Firebirds Player of the Year in 2010, Player's Player in 2011 and Member's Player of the Year in 2013. To honour her dedication to the Firebirds, the Queensland Government announced a bronze statue would be commissioned to stand at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre alongside basketball legend, Leroy Loggins.

Laura made her Australian Netball Diamonds debut in 2008 and in her first game played an integral role in clinching a win for the team. In 2013 Laura she was named as only the second Queenslander to captain Australia's most successful women's sporting team in its history. In her maiden season as captain, she led the Diamonds to a Constellation Cup victory over New Zealand as well as completing a clean sweep in the International Test Series. Following her gold medal win at the World Netball Championships in 2011, Geitz was awarded the prestigious Liz Ellis Diamond award. She captained Australia to Commonwealth Games Gold in 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016. In 2015 she captained the Diamonds to a World Championship win in Sydney in front of a record-breaking crowd.

Announcing her pregnancy after the 2016 ANZ Championship victory over the NSW Swifts, Laura took a break from the game in February 2017 to become a mother to Barney. Ten months later, Laura returned to the game and went on to represent Australia at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018 and the Queensland Firebirds for the 2018 Suncorp Super Netball season. She retired from playing that year.